My tank had a bit of misfortune over the summer.
While moving into my new house, I had my friend keep my tank and all it's inhabitants at his LFS for a few months. Not soon before taking re-delivery of my stsyem, there was a smoldering electrical fire at his shop and I lost almost everything in it.
Problem was, the fire happened on one of the hottest nights in July, so when the power went out, the tank turned into a big glass coffin (and it smelled like the inside on one, too!) I didn't have anything burn, just lots of soot all over the canopy and stand.
Here's a few pics of the tank the way it looked while in the old house, including the plumbing outside in the garage (just on the other side of the wall from the aquarium)
Just moved in, had to install the tank within hours of arriving from FL to SC. That was a fun drive!
New wall paint (that changed quickly)
One of the last pics of the tank. You can see the progress of growth of all the coral in the tank, one of the most apparent, at least to me, was the large bubble coral on the left hand side of the tank. It went from the size of a racketball when I got it 5 years earlier to larger than a football.
This is the filtration system in the garage. Left to right...
65g RO/DI storage, 90 GPD Spectrapure RO/DI, GRI 518 mix/transfer pump, CSL 1/3hp chiller, Aquadyne Octopus controller, RK2 system pump, 300g sump.
So after I cleaned up all the woodwork, I set the tank back up. The only thing I found alive in the tank was a brittle star and an astrea snail. The rock was still in good shape, but it was stripped of all its coralline algae. I staged the rock in two separate islands, with a nice space in between them for a few clams.
Here is the same equipment listed above set up in the new garage. One thing I did differently here was I ran a dedicated circuit for all of the equipment. It keeps me from blowing fuses, and is just much safer.
The mix/return pump is on a switch
The lighting circuit runs through the wall to right on top of the canopy on the ither side of the wall. The 15A circuit is plenty for the 2 140w actinic VHOs and 2 250W halides.
Another shot of the garage. All of the plumbing is designed to come completely apart with minimal headaches. I used all true union ball valves and gate valves. The components can be removed without shutting off the entire system.
As far as the mix/return system, the RO/DI fills the 65g storage unit. I add salt into the top of it, turn on the mix pump and let it rip overnight. The next day I hook up a garden hose to the hose bibb just above the main system pump, shut off the gate valve to the tank's returns and drain the sump down 65g.
I then turn the valve off that returns water from the mix pump to the storave vat and turn on the valve from the mix pump to the sump. Super easy!
This is the manifold for the Aquadyne sensors (3), plus one for the chiller temp sensor.
Inside of the sump sits 2 Red Sea berlin skimmers (I'm in the market for a new skimmer, these 2 are not cutting it) and a filter sock. The wires are for the skimmer's powerheads.
Shots of the panel box
The large grey PVC piping holds the wiring that goes into the top of the panel box and up into the attic.
Here are some livestock pictures. I'm just about where I want to be with fish, and close to where I want to be with corals.
6" Deresa
5" Maxima
Firefish and Desjardini Sailfin
Branching Hammer and Frogspawn
Xenia
BiColor Blenny
Bubble and Toadstool
Yellow and male Blonde Naso Tangs
Torch and Bubble
Clown, Hippo, Orange Shoulder Tang, and Branching Hammer
Tangs posing in front of "Acro Island"
Clown Fairy Wrasse
Platygyra
Torch
Red Open Brain
Rainfordi Goby
Bluejaw Trigger
My fish list:
Yellow Tang
Hippo Tang
Orange Shoulder Tang
Male Blonde Naso Tang
Desjardini Sailfin Tang
Lawnmower Blenny
BiColor Blenny
2 FireFish
2 False Percs
Yellow Clown Goby
Rainfordi Goby
Clown Fairy Wrasse
Bluwjaw Trigger
Corals:
Metallic Hammer, wall and branching
Metallic Torch
Metallic Green Bubble
Light Green Bubble
Red Open Brain
Green Open Brain
Green Star Polyps
Xenia Elongata
Platygyra
6 assorted colored Acros
Inverts:
Deresa
Maxima
Peppermint Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
Hermits
Brittle Star
Hope you enjoy the pics, and if you have any questions, please ask!!!
Scott
While moving into my new house, I had my friend keep my tank and all it's inhabitants at his LFS for a few months. Not soon before taking re-delivery of my stsyem, there was a smoldering electrical fire at his shop and I lost almost everything in it.
Problem was, the fire happened on one of the hottest nights in July, so when the power went out, the tank turned into a big glass coffin (and it smelled like the inside on one, too!) I didn't have anything burn, just lots of soot all over the canopy and stand.
Here's a few pics of the tank the way it looked while in the old house, including the plumbing outside in the garage (just on the other side of the wall from the aquarium)
Just moved in, had to install the tank within hours of arriving from FL to SC. That was a fun drive!
New wall paint (that changed quickly)
One of the last pics of the tank. You can see the progress of growth of all the coral in the tank, one of the most apparent, at least to me, was the large bubble coral on the left hand side of the tank. It went from the size of a racketball when I got it 5 years earlier to larger than a football.
This is the filtration system in the garage. Left to right...
65g RO/DI storage, 90 GPD Spectrapure RO/DI, GRI 518 mix/transfer pump, CSL 1/3hp chiller, Aquadyne Octopus controller, RK2 system pump, 300g sump.
So after I cleaned up all the woodwork, I set the tank back up. The only thing I found alive in the tank was a brittle star and an astrea snail. The rock was still in good shape, but it was stripped of all its coralline algae. I staged the rock in two separate islands, with a nice space in between them for a few clams.
Here is the same equipment listed above set up in the new garage. One thing I did differently here was I ran a dedicated circuit for all of the equipment. It keeps me from blowing fuses, and is just much safer.
The mix/return pump is on a switch
The lighting circuit runs through the wall to right on top of the canopy on the ither side of the wall. The 15A circuit is plenty for the 2 140w actinic VHOs and 2 250W halides.
Another shot of the garage. All of the plumbing is designed to come completely apart with minimal headaches. I used all true union ball valves and gate valves. The components can be removed without shutting off the entire system.
As far as the mix/return system, the RO/DI fills the 65g storage unit. I add salt into the top of it, turn on the mix pump and let it rip overnight. The next day I hook up a garden hose to the hose bibb just above the main system pump, shut off the gate valve to the tank's returns and drain the sump down 65g.
I then turn the valve off that returns water from the mix pump to the storave vat and turn on the valve from the mix pump to the sump. Super easy!
This is the manifold for the Aquadyne sensors (3), plus one for the chiller temp sensor.
Inside of the sump sits 2 Red Sea berlin skimmers (I'm in the market for a new skimmer, these 2 are not cutting it) and a filter sock. The wires are for the skimmer's powerheads.
Shots of the panel box
The large grey PVC piping holds the wiring that goes into the top of the panel box and up into the attic.
Here are some livestock pictures. I'm just about where I want to be with fish, and close to where I want to be with corals.
6" Deresa
5" Maxima
Firefish and Desjardini Sailfin
Branching Hammer and Frogspawn
Xenia
BiColor Blenny
Bubble and Toadstool
Yellow and male Blonde Naso Tangs
Torch and Bubble
Clown, Hippo, Orange Shoulder Tang, and Branching Hammer
Tangs posing in front of "Acro Island"
Clown Fairy Wrasse
Platygyra
Torch
Red Open Brain
Rainfordi Goby
Bluejaw Trigger
My fish list:
Yellow Tang
Hippo Tang
Orange Shoulder Tang
Male Blonde Naso Tang
Desjardini Sailfin Tang
Lawnmower Blenny
BiColor Blenny
2 FireFish
2 False Percs
Yellow Clown Goby
Rainfordi Goby
Clown Fairy Wrasse
Bluwjaw Trigger
Corals:
Metallic Hammer, wall and branching
Metallic Torch
Metallic Green Bubble
Light Green Bubble
Red Open Brain
Green Open Brain
Green Star Polyps
Xenia Elongata
Platygyra
6 assorted colored Acros
Inverts:
Deresa
Maxima
Peppermint Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
Hermits
Brittle Star
Hope you enjoy the pics, and if you have any questions, please ask!!!
Scott
